Rep Butcher and the Chinese

[Solitaire]

Isn't he a wonderful human being? (gag)

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_fd3788c2-ae4b-11de-895c-001cc4c002e0.html

Obstacles many for horse plant

MIKE DENNISON Gazette State Bureau | Posted: Wednesday, September 30,
2009 11:30 pm | No Comments Posted

HELENA - As the new state law to encourage construction of a horse
slaughter plant in Montana takes effect this week, its sponsor said he's
exploring whether Chinese investors might be interested in building a
plant here to export horse meat to the Far East.

Yet Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, acknowledged that any such plans are a
long way off, even if he can help arrange a visit by Chinese business
interests.

"You have to work on their time frame, and they're very cautious,"
Butcher said this week. "These people are good businessmen. You have to
be able to present a very logical business proposal."

Butcher and others hoping for a horse slaughter plant in Montana also
face another considerable hurdle: Federal law effectively bars the U.S.
Department of Agriculture from inspecting such a plant, and any meat
shipped overseas for human consumption must be inspected by the USDA.

Congress in 2006 approved language in a spending bill that says the USDA
cannot provide inspection for horse slaughter plants.

"Distribution of product derived from horses for human consumption, in
interstate or international commerce, is effectively barred," said a
spokeswoman for USDA.

If horses are to be slaughtered in Montana or anywhere in the United
States, for human consumption, the market is overseas, in Europe or
Asia, Butcher said.

Regarding the federal ban on inspections, Butcher has acknowledged the
problem, but said getting his bill into state law is "just putting the
first step forward."

Butcher's bill, passed by the 2009 Legislature and effective Thursday,
says that once a horse slaughter plant gets its required air, water and
other state permits in Montana, a state court cannot block construction
of the plant if those permits are challenged.

It also says that if anyone challenges the proposed plant's permits,
they must post a bond equal to 20 percent of the estimated cost of
building the plant.

"We finally put in a law to the point where we can say, 'Look, we've got
the protections here, if you can meet all the environmental regulations,
you can go ahead and build the plant,' " Butcher said.

Butcher has said a horse slaughter plant in Montana would fill two vital
needs: economic development for rural Montana and a badly needed place
for people to dispose of horses they no longer need.

Because no horse slaughter plants exist in the United States, there is a
national epidemic of abandoned horses, he said.

"Only about four to six horses out of every 10 born actually become
usable animals," he said. "This is the thing the animal rights people
don't understand: Every horse that's born doesn't turn into a Trigger or
a Black Beauty. They're animals. Some of them are usable and some of
them are not."

Opponents to Butcher's bill argued during the Legislature that other,
more humane ways exist to dispose of unwanted horses.

Three Montana towns - Hardin, Conrad and Wolf Point - have expressed
interest in being the site for a horse slaughter plant, he said.

Harold Olson, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Pondera
County in Conrad, said the city has studied a slaughter plant site north
of town, and this year it had a consultant examine how the site could
accommodate horse slaughtering.

"We're waiting for someone to step forward and say, 'We'd like to
consider your site,' " Olson said. "We've done the legwork."

Butcher said French and Belgian companies that distribute horse meat in
Europe already have plants in Canada and Mexico and haven't expressed
that much interest in Montana recently.

That's why Butcher said he's turned his efforts toward China or Korea,
and hopes to bring a Chinese businessman to Montana sometime this year.
China uses 160,000 tons of horse meat a year, he said.

"It's a normal menu item in restaurants, particularly in the northern
provinces," Butcher said.

Posted in Montana on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 11:30 pm | Tags:
Horse Meat


.

[Ignis]

1. What an unfortunately comical surname.

I hate myself for laughing, but perhaps this Representative just takes his family name too literally?

[Solitaire]

2. His trade...

Well, he probably came from a very long line of "butchers". Remember, people used to be named for their trade.

:)